Material handling apparatus

ABSTRACT

A material handling apparatus which includes a pusher mechanism operating in conjunction with fixed and movable stops to individually separate elongated elements from a batch and to laterally feed each separated element into a given path.

United States Patent [191 Hill et al. Oct. 29, 1974 MATERIAL HANDLINGAPPARATUS [56] References Cited 75 inventors: William J. Hill, Holden;Kenneth L. UNITED STATES PATENTS Klusmier, Worcester, both of Mass.3,147,653 9/1964 Jones, Jr 214/ 1.4 X [7 Assigneez Mo ga Construction py 3,371,770 3/1968 Graham et a1. 226/180 X Worcester, Mass. FOREIGNPATENTS 0R APPLICATIONS Filed y 3 1973 851,666 10/1960 Great Britain214/].4

[21] Appl. No.1 376,191 Primary Examiner-Frank E. Werner Related U S Acation Data Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Thompson, Birch, Gauthier pp &Samuels [62] Division of Ser. No. 249,691, May 1, 1972, Pat. No.

3,750,799 57 ABSTRACT [52] U S Cl 226/181 A material handling apparatuswhich includes a [51] In} .Cl 39/00 pusher mechanism operating inconjunction with find [58] Fie'ld 32 34 and movable stops toindividually separate elongated 214/1 P, 1 PB; 226/181, 180, 174, 189,188, 184

elements from a batch and to laterally feed each separated element intoa given path.

2 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures 1 MATERIAL HANDLING APPARATUS This is adivision of application Ser. No. 249,69l filed May 1, 1972 now US. Pat.No. 3,750,799.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to the artof material handling, and is particularly concerned with an improvedapparatus for selecting individual elongated elements from a batch andfor laterally feeding each element thus selected into a given .path. Theinvention overcomes the problem of selecting one elongated element froma batch of elements arranged in a generally parallel side by sideformation. To this end, the elements are placed on a roller table, whichis the preferred embodiment to be hereinafter described in greaterdetail, includes skewed driven rollers arranged to impart both axial andtransverse motion to the elements. The axial motion is eventuallylimited by a first stop having a flat surface against which the frontends of the elements are aligned. Thereafter, the elements continue tomove laterally across the first stop until the front end of the leadingelement moves past the end of the first stop. The' leading element thencontinues axially past the first stop into engagement with a third stop.At this point, continued lateral movement of the leading element isarrested by a second disappearing stop which in its raised operativeposition is located between the first stop and the path into which eachelement is to be individually fed. The first stop is laterallyadjustable with reference to the second stop so as to provide a gaptherebetween which is wide enough for one element. Thus, when theleading element is in the ready" position between the first and secondstops and against the third stop, its further movement in both the axialand lateral directions is arrested, and it holds back all other elementsin the batch.

At the appropriate time, the second stop is retracted and a pushercontacts the end of the leading element and pushes it laterally into thepath. The pusher is then retracted and the second stop returned to itsraised position as the next succeeding element advances to the readyposition.

The invention is particularly useful in the handling of product lengthsproduced by a rolling mill, although it will be appreciated from thefollowing description that other uses are also contemplated.

A more detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the inventionnow follows with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. I is a plan view of an apparatus embodying the concepts of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along lines 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along lines 33 of FIG. 2; and,

FIGS. 4-6a are schematic plan and sectional views depicting theapparatus in various stages of its operation.

Referring initially to FIGS. 1-3, the apparatus is shown locatedadjacent to a path P into which individual elongated elements are to befed laterally. The apparatus includes delivery means in the form ofconveyor chains 12, conical rollers 14 and cylindrical skewed rollers16. The conveyor chains are supported by sprockets (not shown) and aredriven continuously in a conventional manner in the direction indicatedschematically by the arrow 18. The conical rollers 14 are disposed at anangle with respect to the feed direction 18 of the conveyor chains 112.The rollers 14 are driven by means (not shown) acting through suitablepinion gears contained in housings 20, the latter being interconnectedby shafts 22 and couplings 24. The cylindrical skewed rollers 16 arelikewise disposed at an angle relative to the feed direction 18 of theconveyor chains 12. The rollers 16 are driven by means (not shown)through gears contained in housings 26, the latter being interconnectedby shafts 28 and couplings 30.

As viewed in FIG. 1, a table apron 32 is located to the right of theabove-described delivery means. A first stop member 34 is supported onthe table apron 32. Stop member 34 is provided with a flat face 36 whichis disposed at an acute angle in relation to the path P."

A second stop member 38 is located between the path P" and the end ofthe first stop member 34. The second stop member is movable by means(not shown) through aslot40 in the table apron 32 between a raisedoperative position as shown in FIGS. 4a, 4b and 6a, and a loweredinoperative position as shown in FIG. 5a. A third stop member 42 isfixed at a position downstream from the first stop member 34.

The apparatus further includes a pusher means 44 which is movablelaterally relative to the path P between an inoperative retractedposition shown by the solid lines in FIG. I and an advanced operativeposition indicated by the dot-dash lines at 44a. The pusher means isoperated by a drive (not shown) contained within housing 46.

The apparatus may also include a drive means generally indicated at 48for propelling elongated elements along the path P." With furtherreference to FIGS. 2 and 3, it will be seen that the drive means 48includes a lower bed 50 having short pads 52 which slidably engage rails54 on an underlying stationary base 56. The bed 50 is movable laterallyrelative to the path P by means of a screw drive 58. The bed 50 furtherincludes a pedestal 60 on which is mounted an upper support stand 62 forpivotal movement about a transverse shaft 64. A cylinder 66 is pivotallyattached to the bed 50 as at 68 and has its extensible piston rod 70connected to the upper support stand 62 as at 72. The upper supportstand 62 carried a horizontally extending roll shaft 74a which is driventhrough a coupling 75 by a motor 76. A second roll shaft 74b is carriedon one end of an adjustable arm 78, the other end of which is keyed to athird shaft which is in turn journalled for rotation at the upper end ofa support 82. A crank 84 is also attached to shaft 80. The lower end ofcrank 84 is connected as at 85 to the extensible piston rod 85 of asecond cylinder 88 pivotally mounted on the upper support stand 62 asat90. The roll shafts 74a and 74b each have pinch rolls 92a and 92bmounted thereon. The pinch rolls are shown in the closed drive" positionin FIG. 2.

The operation of the apparatus will now be described with additionalreference to FIGS. 4 and 6A. At the stage shown in FIGS. 4 and 4a, thedelivery means (conveyor chains 12, conical rollers 14 and cylindricalrollers 16) have delivered several elongated elements A. and A topositions abutting the angularly disposed face 36 of the first stopmember 34. Another element A, has passed between the first and secondstop members 34 and 38 and is at rest against the third stop memher 42.A fourth element A, is being driven along the path P by the cooperativeaction of the pinch rolls 92a and 92b. A fifth element A is beingcarried by the delivery means towards the first stop member 34. As isbest shown in FIG. 4a, when the pinch rolls 92a and 92b are operativelypositioned, a product length gripped therebetween is lifted slightlyabove the level of table apron 32. It will also be observed that thesecond stop member 38 is at its raised operative position, thuspreventing any lateralmovement of subsequent product lengths into thepath P."

Although not shown, it will be assumed for purposes of discussion thatadditional propelling rolls, for example those included as part of astraightening device, are located downstream from the apparatus alongpath P. After the product length A., has been fed into these additionalrolls, the pinch rolls 92a and 92b are adjusted to their inoperativepositions as shown in FIG. 4b. This is accomplished by retracting thepiston rod 86 of cylinder 88 to pivotally raised the roll shaft 74bwhile simultaneously retracting the piston rod 70 of cylinder 66 topivotally lower the upper support stand 62.

After the tail end of element A. has cleared the apparatus, as shown inFIG. 5, the path P is clear and ready to accept the nest product length.At this point, the second stop member 38 is lowered as indicated in FIG.5a. The next subsequent product length A; is then pushed into the path Pby the pusher 44. Once this has been accomplished, the pinch rolls 92aand 92b are again closed by reverse operation of cylinders 88 and 60,thereby exerting a propelling force on the product length A The pusher44 is immediately withdrawn, and the second stop member 38 is againelevated. While the product length A is being drive along path P," thenext subsequent product length A will move along the first stop member34 under the influence of the delivery means and will eventually passbetween the first and second stop members to come to rest against thethird stop member 42. This condition is illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 6a.

The above-described sequence of operation will be repeated each time anew product length is fed into the path P."

Having thus described the apparatus and its operation, the advantages tobe derived therefrom will now be more readily appreciated by thoseskilled in the art. Of particular importance is the ability to select orseparate individual elements from a batch and to control the lateralfeeding of each element into a given path.

The arrangement of the fixed stops 34, 42, the movable stop 38 and thepusher 44 is such that each element can be rapidly fed into the path Pas soon as the tail end of the preceeding element has cleared theapparatus. This insures minimum spacing between elements being processedfurther down the line. The distance between the first and second stops34 and 38 can be adjusted to accommodate elements of varying width, andthe pinch rolls 92a and 92b can be quickly changed to accommodatedifferent cross sections. Thus the apparatus can be rapidly converted tohandle other types of products such as for example flats or rounds.

It is our intention to cover all changes and modifications of theembodiments herein chosen for purposes of disclosure which do not departfrom the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claimsappended hereto.

We claim:

I. Apparatus for axially propelling an elongated element along a givenpath, comprising: lower support means positioned to one side of and at alevel beneath that of the path, a platform mounted on said lower supportmeans for pivotal movement about an axis generally parallel to the path,a first rotatable roll shaft carried on said platform, means on saidplatform for driving said first roll shaft, linkage means on saidplatform, a second rotatable roll shaft parallel to said first rollshaft, second roll shaft being adjustably carried by said linkage meansfor movement towards and away from said first roll shaft, first andsecond pinch rolls mounted respectively on said first and second rollshafts for rotation therewith, a first operating means for pivotallyadjusting said platform relative to said lower support means between anoperative position at which said first pinch roll contacts an elongatedelement at said path and an inoperative position spaced below said path,and a second operating means connected to said linkage means foradjusting the position of said second roll shaft and the second pinchroll mounted thereon between an operative position contacting anelongated element at said path and an inoperative position spaced abovesaid path, whereupon when said pinch rolls are operatively positioned,an elongated element contacted therebetween will be propelled axiallyalong said path.

2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 further characterized by meansfor laterally adjusting the position of said lower support meansrelative to the said path. l I=

1. Apparatus for axially propelling an elongated element along a givenpath, comprising: lower support means positioned to one side of and at alevel beneath that of the path, a platform mounted on said lower supportmeans for pivotal movement about an axis generally parallel to the path,a first rotatable roll shaft carried on said platform, means on saidplatform for driving said first roll shaft, linkage means on saidplatform, a second rotatable roll shaft parallel to said first rollshaft, second roll shaft being adjustably carried by said linkage meansfor movement Towards and away from said first roll shaft, first andsecond pinch rolls mounted respectively on said first and second rollshafts for rotation therewith, a first operating means for pivotallyadjusting said platform relative to said lower support means between anoperative position at which said first pinch roll contacts an elongatedelement at said path and an inoperative position spaced below said path,and a second operating means connected to said linkage means foradjusting the position of said second roll shaft and the second pinchroll mounted thereon between an operative position contacting anelongated element at said path and an inoperative position spaced abovesaid path, whereupon when said pinch rolls are operatively positioned,an elongated element contacted therebetween will be propelled axiallyalong said path.
 2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 furthercharacterized by means for laterally adjusting the position of saidlower support means relative to the said path.